London Oxford Airport (EGTK) has started selling sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), offering blends of either 30% or 10% to aircraft operators. Announcing the move, the privately-owned airport's head of business development, James Dillon-Godfray, said there is now more willingness from larger operators, charter brokers, and companies to carry the additional cost of the reduced-carbon fuel, even though the 30% SAF blend costs around twice as much as jet-A.
The Oxford site now has a new fuel farm with five tanks that have capacity for 425,000 liters. By the third quarter, the airport plans to open a facility to produce a synthetic jet-A that it said involves 50% lower capital costs than other e-fuels. The $27.7 million investment has been partially backed by a nearly $3.5 million UK government grant.
In another indication of Oxford’s intent to support efforts to decarbonize aviation, the airport is now home to Qdot Technologies, which is developing a hybrid-electric powerplant for eVTOL aircraft and drones. The startup is a spin-off from nearby Oxford University and has expertise in heat transfer technology for hydrogen fuel cells. The company is part of the new Oxford Airport R&D Science Park, in which £48 million (about $60 million) has been invested.
Also new at the airport are RNAV approaches for both of its runways. Dillon-Godfray pointed out that, with the planned phaseout of ILS navaids by 2030, the UK still has no post-Brexit plan in place for replacing the EGNOS/Galileo global navigation satellite system platform.
London Oxford is open from 6 a.m. to midnight seven days a week year-round. This provides something of a competitive edge over the coming UK summer, since alternatives closer to the capital—including Luton, Stansted, Farnborough—are now restricted to operating no later than 10 p.m.—and in some cases earlier. On the other side of London, Biggin Hill Airport is open Monday through Friday until 11 p.m., and until 10 p.m. at weekends on public holidays.
Airbus Helicopters has nearly completed construction of its new UK headquarters at the airport, having invested £50 million. This includes a 125,000-sq-ft maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility, as well as 66,000 sq ft of hangar space and 59,000 sq ft of offices and workshops. The manufacturer expects to occupy the new facility in September and already has plans for further expansion of the site.